


Blessing

by Port_in_a_Storm



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon compliant (perhaps), Families of Choice, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-23 00:30:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8306893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port_in_a_Storm/pseuds/Port_in_a_Storm
Summary: Robert goes to Paddy to ask for his blessing to marry Aaron.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The fic I've been dying to write since I realised that Robert would ask someone for their blessing! Paddy and Aaron's relationship is one of my favourite parent/child relationships on the show, and Paddy is so important to Aaron. I hope that tonight goes some way to fixing what went wrong this year, when Paddy wasn't around. This is my take on it. Happy reading!

Robert knocked on the door of Harriet’s house, shuffling nervously on his feet. If it were up to him, there would be no need for this conversation. It was his and Aaron’s choice whether they wanted to marry or not. Plus, they were hardly traditionalists. But he heard Vic’s voice in his head, telling him that it would be respectful, and the right thing to do and he had conceded. Still didn’t mean he had to like it though.

He stood up straight when the door opened and he was greeted by a confused looking Pearl. ‘Oh, hello love.’

‘Morning.’ He cleared his throat nervously. ‘Is, uh, is Paddy in?’ He looked through the open door as if hoping to see the vet. 

She frowned, but nodded. ‘Yes, well, you’ve just caught him: he was about to leave to go camping with Leo and Marlon.’ Pearl waved him into the house. ‘Come in, love.’

Pearl left him waiting nervously in the living room, looking around at the ladies’ furniture and ornaments. If he left now, he could just pretend that he wasn’t here when he came to call for him…

Too late, he heard Paddy’s voice in the hall. His palms felt immediately sweaty. The older man stopped and stared at Robert for a second in the doorway, wary and scrutinising. He nodded at Robert, and Robert nodded back. ‘Is Aaron alright?’ he asked, instantly jumping to the worst conclusion.

Robert blinked at the question. ‘Yeah, yes, he’s fine. I uh… can we—’ He gestured to the sofa and armchair and Paddy nodded. ‘I wanted to talk to you. Um…’

He paused for a long moment, and Paddy fidgeted. ‘I’m taking Leo camping in about an hour, so.’

‘Right. Um… this isn’t the easiest thing to… Paddy. I wanted to ask for… well, your _blessing_ I suppose. To marry Aaron.’

Paddy’s eyes widened. ‘Sorry, what? I don’t think I—you want to marry, _marry_ Aaron?’

Robert nodded. ‘I know that I’m not your… ideal choice or whatever, but—’

‘That’s putting it kindly!’

‘But you mean a lot to Aaron, and… well, he’s said that if it weren’t for you he wouldn’t be the man he is today.’

The older man looked away uncomfortably. It was no secret that Paddy hadn’t been quite himself when Aaron was going through things with Gordon. His affair had pushed his son away just when he couldn’t afford to be without his pseudo-dad. ‘Paddy, I love him,’ Robert said. He pushed all of the emotion he had into those four words. ‘I know that I’m not perfect, and I never will be, but he… Aaron makes me a better man.’

‘You know you don’t deserve him, after everything you put him through last year.’ There was no malice in Paddy’s voice. He was stating the facts, and Robert appreciated that.

‘I know,’ he answered. ‘Aaron’s forgiven me for that, and I’ve… I’m trying to forgive myself. I will never hurt him again, Paddy.’ Aaron’s father figure looked sceptical, and his face was downturned. This wasn’t going to be easy: Paddy was the only one who hadn’t seen how much Aaron and Robert had changed each other after the trial. Maybe this was the test to see how worthy he was of Aaron. Robert breathed deep. ‘I was there for him, you know,’ he said almost without thinking. When the man looked at him askance, Robert couldn’t seem to stop the words. ‘I was there for him when no one else was. When you were busy with Tess and Chas was busy with… I was there. And I’ve been there since. You can’t get self-righteous when you hurt him so badly this year.’

‘Is this your way of winning me round?’

‘I’m telling you what you need to hear!’ He stopped himself when he saw the hurt on the man’s face. ‘Aaron means everything to me, Paddy. I want to be with him for… for the rest of my life.’ He wasn’t used to voicing these emotions, not outside of his and Aaron’s private bubble they’d created for themselves. 

‘And if I say no?’

‘I won’t lie to you, I’d still ask him anyway.’ Paddy shook his head at that, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes, even if not on his mouth. 

‘So why even ask me then? If you’d ask him regardless of what I say?’

‘Because Aaron respects you,’ Robert said. ‘Because he loves you, and because you’ve made him into the man I love.’

‘I don’t think I’m deserving of that anymore. I let him down, this year. I’m supposed to be his Dad and I let him down.’

Robert was stunned into silence for a moment. ‘You _are_ his Dad, Paddy! He still sees you as his Dad. Why do you think I’ve come to you? I know you made mistakes, and so have I. Look, like I said, I don’t expect you to like me, or even _accept_ me, but please accept that I love your son, that I will _always_ love him.’

Paddy studied his hands for a moment, looking down at his own wedding ring, and then finally up at Robert. ‘Everyone told me, well, tried to tell me, how much you’ve changed,’ he said. ‘Even Aaron told me, but I didn’t want to believe them. I always assumed that you’d let him down in some way; that he was just a bit of fun or a distraction for you until the next squeeze came along.’ Robert was ashamed, because yes, of course Paddy would see him like that. His voice was soft though, and there was a kindness to it that Robert had only heard around Aaron. ‘I can’t deny how much he smiles now. You know, when he first came to me, he was this angry lad, just wanting to get into fights. He hated me – the feeling was mutual for a while, actually!’ he chuckled lightly. ‘But I saw the good in him, even when he couldn’t see it in himself. _Especially_ when he couldn’t see it in himself.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I never thought I’d see him… accept who he is, or settle down and find love. Not because he doesn’t deserve it, of course he deserves it. But because he wouldn’t _allow_ himself to fall in love. And then after everything that he went through with Jackson, you came along, and you were flippin’ bad news, I’m tellin’ you!’ Robert smiled along with Paddy. ‘But you made him smile, even then.’ He paused and looked at his ring again. ‘If you can promise me that you’ll make him smile for the rest of his life, you have my blessing.’

Robert’s jaw dropped. He honestly wasn’t expecting that. ‘Really?’ he breathed. He could feel the tears in his eyes. Paddy nodded, and he saw that the man was close to crying himself. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Thank you, Paddy. And I promise that I’ll do right by him.’

‘You’d better do. He means the world to me, that boy.’

‘He means the world to me, too.’ He hesitated. ‘Do you—do you want to see the ring?’

Paddy smiled and nodded. Robert took the box out of his pocket and opened it. His breath still caught when he saw it. When he gave it to Paddy, the man took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. ‘Perfect,’ he croaked. ‘Flippin’ perfect.’

**Author's Note:**

> Come have a nosy on tumblr!: [Port in a Storm](http://www.portinastorm.tumblr.com)


End file.
